Two Lakeland Men Accused of Threatening Others With Knives, Hitting Them With Bats

Wednesday

Apr 2, 2014 at 3:49 PM

Two men are in jail following an armed robbery last weekend when four people were threatened with knives and two people were hit with a baseball bat, deputies said.

By MILES PARKSTHE LEDGER

LAKELAND | Two men are in jail following an armed robbery last weekend when four people were threatened with knives and two people were hit with a baseball bat, deputies said.Frederick Austin Donatelli, 18, is in jail facing two counts of robbery with a weapon and four counts of false imprisonment. All six charges are felonies related to a Saturday robbery, a Polk County Sheriff's Office arrest report said.The Sheriff's Office listed 815 Stratford Drive in Lakeland as Donatelli's address but his family says he does not live there.Shaman Nemus, 19, of 6543 Lemon Tree Drive, Lakeland, was booked into the jail Monday on the same charges, as well as three counts of aggravated battery with a deadly weapon.The robbery occurred at the home of Joan Cunningham, 787 Sagewood Drive in Lakeland.According to the report, Robin Florand, 42, and her daughter, Brittany Cain, 14, of Lakeland, went to Cunningham's house for a "girls night" on Friday that extended into Saturday. Late Saturday afternoon, when Donatelli, Nemus and two other men were also at the house, Cunningham aggressively demanded Florand and her daughter give her gas money she claimed they owed her. The pair decided they were "not going to be a part of this abuse" and the 14-year-old walked back into the house, where she was confronted by Nemus.Nemus hit her three times in the ribs with a baseball bat as she tried to escape, the arrest report said. When one of the other men, Andrew Michael Vandervort of Lakeland, tried to help the girl, Nemus hit him in the back with the bat, according to the arrest report.Nemus and Donatelli armed themselves with kitchen knives and forced on to the front porch the mother and daughter, Vandervort and the other male guest, Cody Allen Poole, according to the arrest report. Nemus ran his knife across Poole's face and across the back of Florand's neck, the report said. He then cut his own arm in front of them."If I am crazy enough to cut myself, then I am crazy enough to cut ya'll," he said, according to the report.After taking more than $200 and an iPod, Nemus and Donatelli let the four people go, the report said. Florand waited until Sunday to report the incident, she told deputies, because the men threatened to kill her if she told anyone what happened.In a post-arrest interview, Donatelli told deputies that he held the four people against their will, and that Cunningham had contacted him and Nemus to help remove people from her house.Donatelli is being held at the Polk County Jail with a $40,000 bail.Nemus is being held with a $65,000 bail.

[ Miles Parks can be reached at miles.parks@theledger.com. ]

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